Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for March 14, 2011

Gotta be careful what you ask for!

We have been on our own from 1980 - 1992 and 2000 - 2008.

And 1992 - 2000. And 2008 - ????. And frankly, 1968 - 1980.

Any way we can get Truman to run again?

What’s it say on the hydrant?

H2O = Water!!

Only the 2 in H2O should be subscript, not superscript.

Nabuquduriuzhur, GOP keeps talking about how they don’t want government to spend money on anything but military (because that’s the only valid role of the government) – folks right here on this site have said the same. They don’t like government spending our money on dumb stuff like railroads or bridges. Or cops or firefighters or teachers….

Yeah, wait until the private fire department bypasses your house and hoses down your neighbors who paid their bill… (hear that’s already happened lately.)

And the Banksters got more, something like twenty trillion, but who’s counting?

One of the likely motives for 9/11 was the investigation going on in Bldg. Seven (remember, the one that wasn’t hit by anything, but collapsed into its own footprint anyway?) They were investigating the couple or three trillion that the War Dept. had no idea how they’d lost…

And probably a return to the lawlessness of the old west would be the end result.

Actually there is a line going through “H2O” meaning there is no water available via the hydrant.

Nab, please site relevant sources when making such accusations.

Now, pbarnrob — ‘fess up that you’re goofing and making numbers up. Some people here are credulous enough to take you seriously, and taunting them is unkind.

All of you on the left, the problematic root of all this is “taxes”. You can raise taxes on the rich but they will pay an accountant more just to keep from paying more. Fine, where does that leave us? You and me, Bubba. We have to pay the taxes for all of the government services. I can’t speak for you, but I am taxed out. I do not know of any recourse for us except to rethink government’s role in our lives. If you have a solution, please, tell us about it.

Once upon a time an Italian would say “Without the government, there’d be no telephones”, but it took years to get a telephone. And a Russian would say “Without the government there’d be no sausage in the stores”, but there was usually no sausage in the stores.

Now generations of Americans have been propagandized to believe that without government there’d be no roads, no trash removal, no buses, etc., etc., and while they complain about the shoddy quality of these services, they shrink with horror at the thought that none of them are proper functions of government.

Whatever so stunted the American imagination? Oh, right. Goverment schools. And if your first thought is “But without government, there’d be no schools”, then you’ve proven my point.

pschearer -I hope you’re not advocating anarchy as a workable form of government, unless you want to return to people living in communes of under 50 and scratching in the dirt.

It’s not propoganda. Most of the major infrastructure projects in North America were make-work funded by the government – Canadian and US – to get out of the depression and keep the economy fueled through the end of World War II. Pick up a book and refresh yourself on the New Deal.

We’re headed that way again (if anybody’s smart) mostly because the life expectancy of a lot of those same projects are crapping out, and why have people sitting on the dole doing nothing but watching Jerry Springer? Same for people sitting in prison… I’m sure they could be doing better things than printing license plates and hanging out in a yard.

GTL: No, never anarchy, which is a major reason I am not a Libertarian. The thought occurred to me that I should really state what government is FOR, but I’d already written enough. But since you asked…

Cdward is doubly mistaken to think the GOP only believes in the military. First, the GOP has been almost – not quite – as guilty as the Dems in moving America toward a Euro-socialism. And second, for those who understand government in terms of a defender of individual rights, the proper functions of government are the military, police, and the courts. Anything else should either be done privately (all the things I mentioned) or not at all (particularly governmentally-enforced “charity”).

As for the history of the New Deal, your attitude toward the actions of government are sanguine at best. All the historians and economists I’ve encountered for many years now agree that government policies caused and worsened the Depression which only ended when decades of government restraints were rolled back after WWII. I’m sure you’ve not been reading the books I do.

It is abundantly clear that people on the left in here have not really researched for themselves but have let themselves be brainwashed. They all make completely false accusations and assumptions.

Do you know why we bailed out the big corps? Do you know who really owns America? The Federal Reserve does. A PRIVATE CARTEL put in place and linked to a global banking cartel. They do as they wish…and we are all fools. We go around blaming each other and fighting among ourselves when all the while we are being systematically dismantled until not one of us in here will have any private rights nor own any private property. We are like blind mice chewing each others tails. Why don’t we get smart, and stop bickering and learn who the real enemy is.??

I never knew it was the FEDERAL Governments job to direct LOCAL traffic, pick up LOCAL trash, provide LOCAL utilities,LOCAL police, or LOCAL firefighters. I must have the old Constitution, you know the outdated one that said all powers not specifically given to the central government would remain in the hands of the states. Although 95% of the education budget comes from LOCAL property tax, because the Federal government throws in a dime, your school is required to teach more about the Native American (Asian nomads) migration than the Spanish exploration or the German, French,and English settlement. PC is more important than your mil rate. I’m sure or founding fathers meant for non-elected, bureaucratic federal programs like the EPA to bypass Congress and over-ride your LOCAL elected officials in determining (ruining) your state’s economy.

Those men wouldn’t be in Washington if they didn’t know what they were doing.—————Grandma

Love it!

I know Wiley drew this weeks ago, but I immediately thought of the GOP’s budget cuts which include the TSUNAMI WARNING SYSTEM!

No joke - I guess they’re all from Midwest states!

http://www.slate.com/id/2260968/

This is a comic, if you don’t like em…vote em out.

Hi odeliasimone…please tell me where in this country one can “own private property”? The way I see it, as long as armed officials can throw you out for not paying the rent (prop tax)…guess it must be their property?? PEACE

There was a time you could walk across the street without a sign telling you to. You looked both ways and took responsibility for your own safety. This is what essentially is needed . It will happen as the government goes broke trying to run everything in the inefficient manner. Protection against the initiation of force is all government has been created for. We don’t need an unaffordable nanny state.

My kind of government.

There you go again …

Yup! I member when ya could cross the street on yer own. Actually back then ya had to wait fer a car to show up. My, how things have changed. Where we live there are no “federal gov” trash collectors,cops, etc. Would be nice to see the folks who seem to think someone else should pick up their trash NOT THROW IT DOWN in the first place. I have a friend who tosses stuff out his car. I ask him not to and he just laughs. He truly thinks he is better than others. Don’t get me started. =) PEACE

Everyone has a diatribe, but no-one gets anything done. So here we sit in this mindless face-off. No-one willing to budge and the country crumbling around us. Just another take on fiddling Nero.

The other day I was helping one of the members of our state legislature with a computer problem and she asked me if I had seen any “buyer’s remorse” in my group. Since the baggers newly elected have decided to outsource my department, I observed that yes, indeed, there are several in my team specifically who voted for the baggers with the idea they would get rid of the department of education in my state. Little did they think the actual result would be they would get rid of the easily replaced departments like IT, Housekeeping, Police, Food Service. The deeply entrenched venues are going to be mostly left alone. Privatizing teachers is not so easy as privatizing IT folks.

The sad part is one of the baggers in my team is going to not be employable after the changes are put in place. He has few skills, just been there a long time. Makes more mistakes than should be allowed and has his job because it is so difficult to fire anyone there. In the process of the changes there is no way on earth he will be carried along. Performance reports, incident reports, and so on speak volumes. Sad, really.

Well no, those new companies won’t spring up very much to replace the ones that are driven out of the country with high taxes. The same high taxes that drive successful companies out of the country also result in businesses that would otherwise form being stillborn.

I laughed when I saw the cartoon but after reading the comments all of the fun has gone out of it. Jeez. Wiley is showing a tongue in cheek worst case scenario. Lighten up for goodness sakes! It’s a CARTOON - intelligent, insightful, thought provoking but nevertheless a CARTOON!!!

WE love the shared misery as much as the shared laughter.

Many times I find the comments funnier than the strips.

Amen bansheehowl - all this sturm und drang over a fire hydrant.

To “Nabuquduriuzhur” and the comment about budget cuts being the result of Congress and Clinton, part of which is true but be reminded that at the close of Clinton’s administration, not only did we have a balanced budget but we also had a surplus! It was the Bush years that destroyed this country’s financial surplus and infrastructure, among other things, so we now haveing to repair the damage of that administration.

Coyoty,,,, The hydrant sign actually says NO WATER. The circle with a diagonal slash and H2O.

Place I used to live near has turned off their traffic lights. I think they still have water in their hydrants.

@kpduty: When it comes to government, tongue-in-cheek worst case scenarios happen all too often.

I am a working adult, because my job is supposed to involve “public safety” I am required to be in a random drug testing program (no I don’t work for the government). I have no problem with drug testing is some areas of employment. People sitting home collecting government benefits (not Social security retirements) are not drug tested because it would be demeaning to them to be tested. The lunitics are running the show

@pdenman: “paranoia”???

Why not privatize the crosswalks and fix them so you have to pay a toll to get a “WALK” light?

Wylie is just taking a shot at the “TEA party” wet dream of a future with no taxes, or services, or law. Don’t worry about the pedestrians, do away with AUTO traffic signals, stop signs, ambulances to take care of those “no tax intellectuals” at the local, state, AND federal levels, just charge them 50 times as much for “private” service provided by “corporate America”.

Reading the whiners on the right above, let them have the country they want and deserve, Rwanda.

Better keep a bucket of water around to save your house when it catches fire too.

I agree with so many of you and it is late- g-night! The woes of government are not ever going to be resolved because everyone has their own iron in the fire; I’m glad to be nearing the end of my envolvement with as little difficulty as possible.

Anyone ever heard of CAFR. More money than you can shake a stick at in them. Every state, county, and city are required to file them every year.

All of these are paid by local and state governments, doncha know… The Federal budget could freeze tomorrow and we would all go on blissfully unaware.